The Brooklyn Museum houses one of America’s foremost collections of Asian art. The Asian galleries provide a full survey of those holdings, featuring more than 350 works of art from Japan, Korea, China, India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas. The galleries are home to a diverse array of objects, from glowering Japanese guardian figures to delicate Indian miniature paintings, and from the heavily wrought surface of a Chinese cloisonné altarpiece to the smooth celadon glaze of a Korean ewer.

The Chinese gallery at the Museum features objects that range in date from the Neolithic period (circa 3000 B.C.E.) to the present. The works of art on display reveal the sophistication of Chinese craftsmanship and the variety of concerns—funerary, courtly, religious, and poetic—that combined to define traditional Chinese culture. They also demonstrate an enduring respect for antiquity, visible in forms derived from ancient bronzes, emblems such as the dragon and the taotie mask, and materials such as jade, all of which were employed by Chinese artists over several centuries.

The Brooklyn Museum was one of the first American institutions to collect and exhibit Korean art, and as a result it houses one of the country’s premier collections. The gallery presents the varied art forms through which Korea distinguished itself from its neighbors, including a fine selection of ceramics such as early stoneware funerary vessels, inlaid celadons, and later wares with freely painted underglaze decoration. Also on view are rare examples of bronzes, furniture, and painting.

Japanese works form the largest area within the Asian collections at the Brooklyn Museum. In addition to the traditional arts of Japan, the galleries include a selection of ceramics made by the great masters of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A section of the gallery is dedicated to the art of the Ainu people of northern Japan, material rarely seen in Western museums.

The Museum’s outstanding collection of South Asian art includes works from India and surrounding areas. The objects in this collection represent the rich religious traditions of southern Asia—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Islam—with an emphasis on figural sculpture and architectural elements. Among the strengths of the Museum’s holdings are terracotta figures dating from prehistory to the present and courtly objects made from precious materials.

Southeast Asia and the Himalayas are represented by smaller installations within the galleries, but these collections include several noteworthy objects, including large-scale sculptures from Cambodia and Thailand and early images from Kashmir and Nepal. Like South Asian traditions, the arts of these areas are primarily religious in subject or inspiration.

The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean. Because silk comprised a large proportion of trade along this road, in 1877, it was named ‘the Silk Road’ by Ferdinand von Richthofen, an eminent German geographer.

Xian Terracotta Warriors

Culture: The road is not only an ancient international trade route, but also a splendid cultural bridge liking the cultures of China, India, Persia, Arabia, Greek and Rome. The Four Great Inventions of China and religions of the West were introduced into their counterparts.

History: From the time Zhang Qian opened up the world-famous Silk Road during the Han Dynasty, until the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, it enjoyed a history of about 1,600 years.

Route: This ancient road begins at Chang’an (now Xian), then by way of the Hexi Corridor, and it reaches Dunhuang, where it divides into three, the Southern Route, Central Route and Northern Route. The three routes spread all over the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and then they extend as far as Pakistan, India and even Rome.

Other roads: In fact, besides the Silk Road in the northwest of China, there are another two trade roads in the southwest of China and by sea, which also contributed greatly to the development of the world. They are called the “Southern Silk Road” and the “Silk Road on the Sea“.

Crescent Lake, Dunhuang, Gansu

Scenery along the Road: The scenery and sights along the Silk Road are spectacular and intriguing. There are well-known Mogao Caves (Mogao Grottoes) in Dunhuang, the bustling Sunday Bazaar in Kashgar and exotic customs in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and more …

Silk Road Adventure: There are all kinds of tour plans for traveling the world-famous road. TravelChinaGuide provides many tour lines for visitors to experience the adventures of this ancient trade road.

Tips: It is necessary for tourists be aware of some travel essentials when they are on the road, such as weather, food, drink, accommodation, transportation and customs of minorities. Here provides detailed information about them.

Pictures: The pictures show the stunning scenery of this time-honored trade route. They display not only the beauty of places of historical places, but also the natural wonders.